Posted by Bob
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Nov 30, 2011 at 9:31 am

No mention of surveillance cameras in this terse report. The level of crime on the Stanford Campus is higher than most people know about, since it is not reported to the Palo Alto Police.

It's time for surveillance technology on the Stanford Campus. Automatic license plate readers stationed at each of the entrances to the campus would provide a list of license plate numbers for vehicles entering/exiting the Campus in a given time frame. Perps like the two in this home invasion might get wise, and walk onto Campus, or possibly take a shuttle, but with enough surveillance, life would become a lot tougher for criminals trying to take advantage of the large number of people on the Stanford Campus.

Posted by Hmmm
a resident of East Palo Alto
on Nov 30, 2011 at 10:40 am

We received an alert last night about this; terrifying. I am so sorry for the victim. Of course, this type of happening make me wonder if they followed the victim at some time and/or knew what was in the home, if they knew the victim & how hard it'll be to catch them.

Posted by Marianne
a resident of Downtown North
on Nov 30, 2011 at 10:43 am

The notion that there is a lot of crime at Stanford is not founded. I lived on campus for years, and nothing ever happened. Yes, once in a blue moon there will be a weird crime like this one that an outsider has caused. And mike go stolen because there are many bikes left unlocked and there are more bikes than human beings at Stanford. On top of that there is a police blotter of the crimes that happen on campus which any newspaper can get a hold of.

Posted by Lock up
a resident of Greenmeadow
on Nov 30, 2011 at 10:48 am

Fewer bikes would be stolen if more Stanford students would take the time to properly lock their bikes. Most bike thefts are crimes of convenience. Get a good Kryptonite lock and lock to a rack through your bike frame and wheels every time you leave your bike somewhere. It is easy to do and generally encourages potential thieves to take the unlocked bike next to yours.

Individuals are responsible for making a reasonable effort to keep our personal property secure.

I am very sorry to hear about the armed robbery. What a terrible experience. I'm glad the victim was not harmed.

Posted by Steve C
a resident of Menlo Park
on Nov 30, 2011 at 12:02 pm

This is a pretty frightening scenario. However, if the economic situation does not improve for the most vulnerable among us, expect this to become more common. Unfortunately, Stanford is probably considered a haven for the "Haves", and an easy place to blend in for the "Don't Haves". This just strikes me as a natural downward spiral in a society which primarily exists for the benefit of a very small proportion of the population. Many, many people are living very close to the edge out there. Politicians are ill equipped to deal with this problem, as they almost exclusively exist to serve that very small proportion of the population. Modern day courtesans.

The number of sexual assaults is higher than those reported in the Part I crimes to the FBI by the Palo Alto police. Property crimes are lower, given that there is less property to steal. It's not clear how hard the Campus police try to interdict illegal drugs, but there do seem to be a small number of arrests made, and reported, every year.

You need to familiarize yourself with the bike theft as described by the campus police. They admit that most of the bikes have their locks destroyed.

There are nearly 400 bikes stolen per year. In four years, that accumulates to more than 1500 stolen bicycles. That is about the same size as each freshman class. My sister has had three bikes stolen...and all had good locks.

Why are you trying to push the blame on the victim?

Like I said, I think that the campus should have officers on foot or bicycle in areas where there isn't vehicle access. I suspect that fewer bikes would be stolen in the presence of police officers making irregular rounds throughout campus.

In addition, I agree with those who have suggested video surveillance too. This way, officers would know who is actually committing the crimes and profile them correctly.

Our daughter went to Stanford several years ago. The robbers stole the WHOLE bicycle rack - since the students had all locked their bicycle. She even had the 2 rear wheels of her car stolen. I am talking about 1995.

Posted by America?
a resident of Old Palo Alto
on Nov 30, 2011 at 4:28 pm

Seriously? License plate tracking, surveillance cameras, facial recognition (easy next step)? Clearly can't speak for the rest of you, but I like freedom and the 4th amendment (what little we still have).

No one is talking about facial recognition. However, what would it hurt to have security cameras set up? There are a dozen of them OUTSIDE of Wal-Mart -- and plenty INSIDE of the local Bloomingdales.

Do the wealthy patrons at the Stanford Mall complain about increased security? In fact, I think that there are security cameras at EVERY convenience store or gas station. They aren't trying to invade your "privacy." Rather, they are trying to keep people safe.

Besides, I suspect that you haven't had anything stolen from you or faced a possible violent situation from a thug.

Seriously, there are about 400 bicycles stolen at Stanford every year -- including those with good locks. When I was dropping off my sister one night during a cold rain, I saw a middle aged man who obviously wasn't a student or employee of the university riding off in a hurry from one of the dorms on a girl's mountain bike. The guy was poorly dressed and looked extremely nervous as he took off on that bicycle.

As politically incorrect as it might be to "profile," I would bet money that he had just stolen a girl's bicycle. I mentioned it once here on the Palo Alto Online and I was jumped by a handful of people saying that I shouldn't make such assumptions. A few days later, I contacted an officer from the Stanford PD about it and was told that there were numerous bikes stolen that week. They didn't even take my info.

Personally, I think that there should be video surveillance outside of the dorms and regular foot/bike patrols by Stanford police. After all, 400 bicycles stolen a week (among worse crimes like the one mentioned in this article) are indicative of "easy picking" by thugs.

That was an extremely silly thing to accuse me of. I am NOT trying to "dominate" threads. I have only mentioned it in TWO comment sections anyway.

My comment was in response to the FIRST person who commented (Bob) who mentioned the level of crime on the Stanford campus.

No one -- including me -- tried to imply that there is no difference between the daily bike thefts on campus and armed home invasion. However, it (theft) is still a major part of the crime problem on campus.

And, of course, I don't set Stanford policy regarding cameras. However, as a member of the community (with a sister living ON CAMPUS), we can offer suggestions without worrying about some person criticizing us for doing exactly what others are doing.

Posted by antown
a resident of South of Midtown
on Dec 1, 2011 at 2:39 pm

police are provoking people. they probably arrested one of their realatives on false chrges or exaggerated charges based on race, and they feel they want to get back at people. police profiling provokes people because it makes young people feel hopeless. less police profiling, less angry people, better society.